Mondega's Nourishing Food, Clothing, & Love

Like all hip hop artists, Mondega’s music is inextricably bound to his story.  Lyrics on his sophomore LP Food, Clothing, & Love are laden with insights into his people, his momma, and his ascent from nothing all the way to the mic. His attitude vacillates between hubris, anger, reverence of females, hope, and partying, while carefully plucked producers tinker with Golden Age hip hop and soul tropes.

The difference between Mondega and other mainline hip hop artists is this: his story is an industry first.

MTV Iggy’s one-time Artist of the Week Mondega is Montagnard, which is an indigenous, disenfranchised group based in and around Vietnam. Growing up there, Mondega witnessed his father getting arrested, his friends’ parents murdered by police, and his shoeless buddies begging on the streets while he gambled in dice games.

His family moved to a refugee home in Raleigh, North Carolina, where he dealt with his culture shock whirlwind through an obsession with hip hop. After years of maturing his own beats, manning a day job, and garnering connections, he dropped a series of mixtapes and singles about discrimination and dissent among Asians. His latest, Food, Clothing & Love, out May 15, doesn’t fall far behind his recent debut release Music for the People.

Enter the present, when we try (and fail) to separate ourselves from Mondega’s bio and ask — “but what about the music?” Well, most tracks stem from recognizable 90s styles, with Biggie-hearkening soulful instrumentals and catchy hooks. Mondega flows with charming, story-telling clarity, offering a new angle on his hip hop rebirth with every track.

Ultimately, the album rounds out a man filled with contradictions. He fancies himself a gamechanger (he is), even “the best Asian rapper in the world”– yet he’s not afraid to spout his angst about inadequacy in America, where tall, blonde people govern the streets. He’s angry about his consistent, uphill battle in the industry, but he’s a sweet, hopeless romantic, too.

Relief from ongoing testifyin’ comes with a few party tracks, like the funny, Estelle-esque electropop number “I’m On It,” the anthem pop track “I’m a Star,” and the club-friendly “Together we Rise” with the unbelievable Cambodian female rapper Lisha. You’ll also hear Vietnamese-language rapping on “Greater Times,” which is wild if you’ve never heard it before.

So, what about the music? It seems that Food, Clothing & Love has all the tightly-produced, head-bobbing goods for old school hip hop and pop fans. But Mondega the man, the character, the survivor, will always be the star of his own show.